


just two friends

by bareunloveliness



Category: bare: A Pop Opera - Hartmere/Intrabartolo
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comedy, Internalized Homophobia, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 04:57:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16758370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bareunloveliness/pseuds/bareunloveliness
Summary: Peter and Jason have a fight before rehearsal but agreed to make up later.





	just two friends

**Author's Note:**

> Nadia gets a little vulgar, fair warning! Request by "Question Mark" on Tumblr.

"This isn't the right time," Jason shook his head, pushing past a dejected and defeated Peter. They had to get to rehearsal and he couldn't let his mind be cloudy. They didn't have enough time to really discuss anything, to clear away the fog, so he had no other choice than to aggressively deny its existence. He had to jump into the mindset of Romeo Montague which was impossible if Peter made him feel so purely Jason McConnell.

Peter didn't grab his hand as he pulled away, but rather, just stood behind him. "Is it ever? Are we ever going to have a right time?"

"No, because this- it isn't right at all," Jason replied, turning back and gesturing between the two of them, the air of unspoken tensions rising to its inevitable peak. "We can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" Peter almost laughed, biting his lip. "Being in love? You know, you haven't told me that you've loved me in five months, two weeks, and three days." When it happened so rarely, he had to hold the words in his heart. "And I know it's not because you don't love me."

Of course that wasn't why, because he was madly in love with Peter, but he locked his guard securely into place and said, "Oh, you know that's not it? Tell me how you fucking  _ know. _ "

It was a seed of doubt, one that Jason was guilty of planting, that made Peter's face fall. He struggled for the words, but they weren't there. He could sense the love, it wasn't something tangible. It was there, right?

Jason held back tears as he straightened his back, watching the boy that he loved the most in the world watch his own world shatter. Peter did not want to live in a world where Jason didn't love him, and that's exactly where Jason sent him for just a moment. "I- I don't know why I said that," he stammered. "I do love you. I've loved you from the beginning."

"That was so easy for you to say," Peter said, taking a step back as Jason reached tenderly for his face. "I never know what's going on with you, Jason. One minute you're mine and the next you're all over Ivy. The whole problem with this act isn't being in the closet or whatever, it's the fact that you don't understand the difference between your reality and your character. Call me when you do, okay?"

Peter left to rehearsal, his invaded escape, where he could put on a mask and would have no problem talking to Jason when they weren't themselves. Peter couldn't talk to Jason, no, but Mercurtio has no problem talking to Romeo.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jason shouted, calling after him. He only had learned aggressive ways to explain his thoughts, and even they were unclear. 

Peter sniffed, mumbling under his breath so he couldn't hear. "I don't know, but whatever it is must be pretty fucking bad if I'm in love with you."

"Everything alright?" Nadia approached Jason from behind, a gentle hand resting on his shoulder. From curses being hurled at each other, it didn't take a genius to tell that something was wrong. Regardless, Nadia was sort of a genius when it came to what Jason was feeling. Apart from the whole gay thing.

Jason shook his head. "Yeah, just a little fight. Best friends, you know."

"Oh," Nadia smirked, looking up at Ivy across the room, "I know. But you and Peter aren't like that. You actually care about each other."

"You'd be surprised."

She pouted, trying to be a little goofy to ease the tension. Unlike Peter, Jason couldn't escape into a role. His Romeo had parts of himself woven inside and he wasn't able to just shed anything that was happening in his life and throw on a costume. Nadia, ever observant, had figured this out and would do what she could to make it a little easier on him. "Are you having girl problems? Does Peter like Ivy too?"

_ You couldn't be more wrong, _ he thought.  _ Hell, I don't even like Ivy. _ The idea of someone not liking Ivy was obviously foreign to anyone else in the world, especially Nadia, and he couldn't deny his faux-attraction to her without risking his safety. "God, no. Has she said anything about me?"

Nadia rolled her eyes, almost sick at the thought of being the middle man between her roommate and her brother. "I don't know, I just sort of tune her out. There's only so much, ' _ Too many boys like me! I'm so sad!'  _ and  _ 'Being a lead in the play is so hard!' _ that I can take before I hit her with a pillow."

"We're doing  _ Romeo and Juliet _ , not  _ Othello _ ," Jason laughed. "No suffocating anyone."

"You're the worst," she smiled, wrapped a lazy arm around him as they wandered into rehearsal. "What's popping, fuckers?" she greeted the community of theatre nerds that had assembled to bring Shakespeare to life.

"Your mom's cunt," Lucas replied. 

Nadia gave him a snarky, mocking smile. "Bold of you to assume that cave hasn't abandoned and haunted for eighteen years."

"You guys are disgusting," Ivy sauntered by, placing herself purposefully next to Jason.

Nadia raised her eyebrows. "So are the used condoms in your trashcan but I'm not commenting on your haunted vagina's habits."

"This is easily the worst conversation you've ever had," Rory commented as she sat on the stage and buckled her character shoes.

Jason scoffed. "Clearly you didn't hear the Great Titty Debate of '02."

"I think I missed that one?" Ivy said.

"Long story short," Nadia explained, surprisingly enough not sneaking a quip into her monologue. "Lucas swears that one time he choked on a titty, even though that's clearly not possible. You choke on small objects, like Matt's dick, not a titty."

"I'm right here, Nadia."

"Good, Matt. I'm glad you came to rehearsal and not in a sock."

Lucas gave her a well deserved high-five, being the only one to support her vulgar tirades. If he wasn't already with Tanya, he'd struggle to deny his witty banter and chemistry with Nadia. It was a good thing he was with Tanya, then, because he'd have to acknowledge that the reason he wasn't with Nadia was because he wasn't attracted to her appearance-wise. She was glad of this too, because she wouldn't want to hear that kind of rejection from him. She didn't actively have a crush on him, but part of her just wanted a boyfriend, any boyfriend. She put that part of her in a little box and proceeded to crush it on a regular basis.

Peter arrived a few minutes later, after getting off the phone with his mom. Claire Simmonds managed to be a helicopter parents from two hundred miles away. Constant checkups had him late to at least two classes a week. "Did I miss anything important?"

"A brief discussion of Matt's dick, so no," Jason replied, riffing like the rest of the group did as if nothing was wrong. The pair exchanged glances that confirmed they would brush the fight under the rug and act as if nothing had happened. Nadia caught on and smiled to herself. The comment earned titters and chuckles from the group of friends. They were inseparable, but maybe they shouldn't be.

Once they had dispersed to places, Jason pulled Peter aside. "Are we okay?"

"No. But we will be. I love you."

Jason glanced around to make sure nobody could hear. "Love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Requests and/or comments can be written below or sent to my Tumblr @bareunloveliness!


End file.
